4M Americans quit their jobs in July 2021: Has the Great Resignation reached the renewable energy jobs market?

The renewable energy industry job reports are published annually, so we’ll have to wait until Q1 for the data to answer this question with any accuracy. But according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, four million Americans quit their jobs in July 2021 (and 11.5 million more did so from April to June).

It’s reported that healthcare and technology industries lead the statistics with resignations.

As more renewable energy (and energy storage) projects are being distributed, high-tech is even more relevant for monitoring, optimizing performance, and operations & maintenance. This means that since our industry is more dependent on tech, our industry is also at risk of experiencing the effects of the Great Resignation.

According to a LinkedIn survey, 74% of those participating indicated that the time spent at home during the pandemic had caused them to rethink their current work situation. If you’ve been reading my Outlook for the last nine months, you already know about the shortage of talent in our industry.

EnergeiaWorks has been facing an elongated process and increased cost for our search services because of the demand for talent.

I’ve written multiple times that I attribute the human capital shortage in our industry to the number of organizations hiring vs the available candidate pool. But even in this environment, I can anecdotally report that we are seeing some of the Great Resignation unfolding within clean energy too, most especially as the back-to-the-office policies are put in place.

We are absolutely seeing an uptick in candidates declining to report back to the office and only considering job offers that come with a remote option.

How does your organization mitigate the Great Resignation risk?

Mentor, train, educate, and, frankly, treat your team with decency so they want to work for you. Seems basic, right? You’d be surprised how many employers get this wrong.

Allow your team to work from anywhere, or build in some remote or hybrid accommodations to consider this new lifestyle and work culture, and you’ve just increased your candidate pool. And lastly, put an aggressive compensation plan together.